Mailliw73

Eh,I'm don't even know who I'd rule for. Each did very well and there's a good argument to be made for either of them. I'd probably rule it as a draw, with both receiving favor.

Storms, eve thoughts was Abdul who managed that lucky hit? Ah well, angry!Alex is probably funnier to write.

Voidus, I don't know if you've read Mouldbreaker and Alexio's posts in Salem yet, but if you have, what would be Soulcaster's ruling on it? Would Alexio win for being the first to actually strike a killing blow or would Mouldbreaker for technically getting Alexio killed first? Or would it be a draw for the good entertainment? I just want to write a final post for Alexio and the outcome would completely change it.

True. But if Lightwards scares away Altermind's most consistent dealer, he'll be mad and start plotting the Empire's demise even more than he already is.

whichever you and Kobold prefer. It doesn't matter much to me. Thanks guys! No way, how could there possibly be a girl that fits Flashpoint's desires almost to the letter only a short distance away?! And what are the chances of Backtrack bringing her up while in Thoughttown? That's exactly why Altermind hasn't. Even he could take down Gunz fairly easy, especially with all these new Epics, but he's never done it because he has to live her permanently and he likes the weapons. He might threaten him every once in a while or kill a couple of Gunz's men, but that's it. Aside from paying less than he should have to, he's cordial enough to the man and any other dealers. Lightwards also has Funtimes to make stuff for him.

Edge, Altermind's all ready to hear about the Voidbringers now.

Altermind had spent the night in the Planning Room again. Two nights in a row of sleeping at a desk gave him such a crick in the neck. The nightmares had happened again and, coupled with his neck, put him in a bad mood to start the day. He pulled out his mobile and called Flashpoint. The electric Epic answered, not groggy in the slightest, only annoying Altermind more. "Flashpoint, I need you to meet with Gunz. He's at his normal place in the Trader Joe's to the east." Flashpoint answered with a snappy "Yes sir," before he hung up. Altermind waited for Funtimes to arrive as he compiled a list of things she could make for him. He also continued to pore over Corpsemaker's Epics' profiles, looking for ways to beat them. The door to the planning room opened loudly and the always white-clad Voidgaze entered with that hamburger guy from the kitchens followed by a couple of his soldiers. Altermind glared at his door scribe for not alerting him to their presence before they entered, but he kept his hallucination cordial. "Yes?" He asked Voidgaze. Flashpoint slung his new rifle over his shoulder and left with a squad of soldiers to meet Mr. Gunz. The weapons dealer was a prideful, annoying human, but he provided better weapons than most of the Northwest could get otherwise. He'd even named himself Gunz, with a Z, and if he hadn't been so useful, Flashpoint knew Altermind would've killed him the first time they met. When they arrived at the old Trader Joe's not far from Thoughttown's borders, Flashpoint led the way into the store. The two guards at the front let him in with a glance at his cape. Altermind had done business with Gunz enough times for them to recognize him on sight. The normally desolate shelves were stocked with all types of weapons and Epic tech. Only when Gunz came to town were there any people in the store. Flashpoint began browsing the gun shelves when the annoying, high-pitched voice came over. "Flashpoint! What a surprise to see you here! Altermind didn't mention you were coming. Come here! Look at this, it's new tech that no other dealer has yet! Remember that spider hero from the old comics? I have tech that can replicate those effects, letting you climb up walls with ease," Gunz shouted all at once. Flashpoint took a deep breath and nodded, following the short man through the aisles. The Spider-Hands were useful and Flashpoint picked up a pair and handed it to one of his guards to carry for him. He tuned out most of Gunz's comments, listening only for useful equipment. He kept looking through the aisles, pulling off tech that looked useful and putting it in the shopping cart one of the guards pushed for him. He grabbed a couple of jetpacks, the last ones Altermind had bought were very useful. He also found some headbands that communicated telepathically-since Altermind's old friend had died in that fire, these would be useful. A couple of night vision goggles, not like the ones from the old days, these ones made night look just like day, and a couple cloaking devices. "-no cooldown-" Flashpoint interrupted Gunz's current spiel and asked him about the newest weapons. "I have a flamethrower that won't run out of fuel but it needs a power source, a machine gun that doesn't need a cooldown, a homing gun, multiple-explosion rounds, grenade launchers, energy blasters,-" I can power the flamethrower easy enough and the homing gun sounds perfect. Flashpoint thought. "That's enough. Give me the flamethrower, stashed of all those types of rounds, and a few energy blasters," Flashpoint cut off Gunz. The man nodded enthusiastically and gestured to his workers to gather the items. "Here's your payment." Flashpoint pulled out small containers from his pockets. They contained small cuttings of the Epics they had killed in Thoughttown the night before as well as a piece of Scorch. The traitor might as well earn them something. "Seven Epics. An energy manipulator, auditory illusionist, water manipulator, spaz attack creator, a few others, and you know Scorch," Flashpoint told the arms dealer. The man's eyes widened at Scorch's name. "But, I thought-" "Don't do that. It might hurt you. The backstabbing traitor didn't survive his encounter with his new employer." Flashpoint dropped the cases into Gunz's hand and turned to leave the store. His guards followed him with the equipment and loaded it into their truck. He flew above them on the way back to Thoughttown. Calamity, this job is lonely. And much too manly. Filled with men, that is. Why couldn't Altermind have had an attractive brunette instead of the idiot Scorch?

I'd second the vote on Timeport. Deathwish hasn't been unspeakably cruel yet.

Brightlord Mallan finished up his affairs for the day before Highprince Kholin's feast. Feasts these days weren't as rare as they had been when Mallanhad first taken his father's place. Out on the Plains, they happened whenever someone had captured a particularly large gemheart and wanted to boast about it. He hoped there'd be some of that strange Shin bird again. The one time he'd tasted it had been at the King's banquet that he had been invited to for being particularly instrumental in helping Highprince Aladar capture a large gemheart. It was white meat with no hard shell and it had been delicious. He couldn't remember what it was called: Fish-kin? Something like that. Mallan's memory was fading these days as he slipped out of his middle age. After his wife had died the year before, it had gotten even worse. Some days, he forgot his scribe's name. Today, though, Mallan's memory was in good shape he had only forgotten to comb his hair and one of the lesser scribe'a names. He remembered it now though: Bethar. And there she was! He walked past her on his way towards the feast and waved, greeting her. She wrinkled her brow when he called her name but smiled anyways. He wondered what was wrong. Had she smelled something? Wasn't her hair blonder this morning? Strange. Mallan ignored it and smiled as he left the camp.

Not sure which is worse. "Animals don't wear clothes" or "Women shouldn't wear clothes because it gets in the way of my viewing"...

Deathwish's approved skirts are no skirts.

What?! Brother Bear isn't my favorite Disney movie, but it's such a great one! Please tell me you've actually seen Mulan too. I'm mostly the same. It's the Mormon thing. Which is basically how I explained Brandon to them. "He's Mormon and lives here in Utah." So then it was all okay.

I just got a new laptop, so I'm currently on the default Mac OS X Yosemite background.

Right you are! Honor Spren, I'll just echo what Quiver said! I really do like yours.

Part 1/2 of a Collab between me and Mek: --- Mouldbreaker sat in pitch darkness, waiting for the arena to configure. Sometimes, he forgot just how little Soulcaster cared about how Salem was run. Mouldbreaker had come to him with a very pressing issue: Truthcharm, a volunteer City Guard, had attempted to murder an innocent newcomer in the name of entertainment. He had expected Soulcaster to order Truthcharm killed... or at least have his license revoked. His only question? "When was the last time you took a turn in the arena?" Mouldbreaker hardly even cared about these stupid fights anymore. Fame and fortune? He saw firsthand what they did to people. The "victors" in Salem were little more than dry husks, turning to drugs and alcohol in their spare time in an attempt to artificially elongate the length of their Dreamstate timeslots. His idea of a good time was going on patrol. At least that was constructive. Mouldbreaker was pretty sure that if he went on break for more than three days, the town would tear itself apart. Mouldbreaker had been a traffic cop before Calamity, and it showed in his respect for order and efficiency. He honestly believed he was willing to die to prevent the city from falling to anarchy. Soulcaster didn't seem to pay the city mind anymore. Mouldbreaker had heard stories that his original goal in creating the Salem arena was to make an Epic haven through controlled violence. Give all of those hotheaded Epics a chance to blow off steam, and they might just be able to tolerate civilized life. It had been years, however, since the man had done anything except sit in McCulloch Stadium, creating arenas and figuring matchups. Salem had claimed him just as easily as any of its contenders. Didn't anyone understand how fake it all was? How the entire town structure was based off of the bizarre powerset of a fragile old man? The darkness lifted, revealing a massive, glass dome. --- Alex dressed in his gladiatorial outfit: form-fitting navy blue with black plates of thick Kevlar. When Alex had moved to Salem, he had heard of these Epic battles. He had come to join them and join he did. Alex, or Alexio Maximus, as the Salem population knew him, had dominated the human fights and had moved into the Epic bracket. He only fought lesser Epics or, as in today's case, depowered Epics. Alex had become the champion for the human population of Salem and an interesting contender for the Epics. In exchange for a couple of fights per week, he was allowed a good life. Soulcaster kept his deals. Gearing up for the fight, Alex shook out his anxiety and began warming up his body. Mouldbreaker was famous around town. He kept peace in town and had pretty good standings in the battles. But today, the gladiator would triumph over his oppressor. --- Dome? No. A sphere. About two hundred paces wide and criss-crossed with stairs and ladders as if a mad spider had decided to build a web inside of it. All around the perimeter, Mouldbreaker saw masses of cheering vanillas, though he couldn't hear them through the soundproof barrier. Some of the sphere's panels were opaque, colored in a seemingly random assortment of hues. A voice boomed through the arena. That would be Olivia. "Alright, folks, let's get started! On the bottom of the sphere is our town's most famous Jell-O aficionado, Mouldbreaker! On the... other bottom, is the up-and-coming vanilla challenger, Alexio Maximus!" Mouldbreaker noted the name. "Obviously, the arena is endowed with Earth-gravity at the edges. Both contestants have had their powersets switched to enhanced strength and durability, and will be leading a group of heroic soldiers into..." She lowered her voice menacingly. "...mortal, hand-to-hand combat, to the DEATH!" Sure enough, a group of unarmed soldiers popped into existence around him. The speaker blipped back on. "Oh, um, yes," Olivia said quickly, "victory is achieved when the enemy Team Leader is dead or incapacitated in a way approved by our beloved leader. Have a nice fight!" Mouldbreaker did a quick inventory check. He counted twenty-five grinning vanillas on his team, uniformed in his customary red. "Alright everyone! Check your pockets. I doubt Soulcaster would make us fight unarmed." They shuffled about, obeying his orders uncertainly. These obviously weren't arena regulars, but that made sense. Giving Mouldbreaker inexperienced extras was an easy way to balance a fight featuring one of the arena's oldest veterans. Mouldbreaker recognized one of the vanillas. Julia Soderquist? He was pretty sure she was a worker at Think Tank's bar. He'd have to question her about the outcome of Truthcharm's attack sometime. As Julia dug around in her back pocket, she found something interesting. A small key with a green tag attached to it. Other soldiers pulled out something similar. Ten keys. Each with a different-colored tag. I've never seen anything like this before. Julia spoke up. "Not exactly weapons, sir. What do you think these open? By the way, I'm absolutely stoked to be here. I've always wanted to get a chance to fight. Do you think that if we win, I could do it again? What faux-powerset do you think I would get if I killed an Epic in-" Mouldbreaker tuned her out. Other soldiers were adding their enthusiasm at being picked for arena participation, but he needed to focus. Directly above them, the enemy was already in motion. He could only see the top of their heads, but they had obviously gotten a plan together already, scuttling around like that. He inspected the floor again, then noticed something. The red panel they had been standing on had a keyhole inscribed into it. Could it be some sort of safe built into the floor? He called out for the soldier holding the red key, whose nametag identified him as "Malcolm," to open it. The key didn't fit. Mouldbreaker growled. If his powerset hadn't been modified, he would have been able to simply transfersate the lid and have full access to whatever was inside. Not having his abilities was like losing an arm or leg. He took another look at the odd panels around the dome. Steel painted various colors, and outlined either red or blue. His was red with a blue border. Red for the key's tag, he decided, and outlined blue for which side's key can open it. Well, if that was how they were going to get weapons, he'd better get started. He organized and led the still-yammering group of soldiers over to the nearest red-outlined panel. If the thing was filled with a pack of angry velociraptors or something, his first order of business post-death would be to solidly punch Soulcaster in the face. --- Alexio Maximus appeared in a glass sphere. Gravity pulled him towards the outside of the sphere, but ladders and stairs filled the space between where he stood and his opponent directly above him. Quickly scanning around him, he saw twenty-five fellow humans behind him. He recognized about half as being contenders in the human bracket. A few he had fought with before. "Marc, Rob, and Lily, take five others and group up. Marc's squad is A, Rob's is B, Lily's is C," Alexio Maximus commanded. The others quickly followed his orders. The remaining eight, including himself, split into two groups of four. Alexio checked their nametags and chose one of the women he had fought before to be in charge of one unit and a man to be in charge of the other. Alexio Maximus tuned out the annoying Cipher girl's voice. He had already figured out the gravity and army. When she announced the win condition to be eliminating the other team's leader, Alexio called out, "Marc, switch me nametags." The two men swapped tags and went back into their squads. Alexio would pretend to be just another human soldier in Squad D, following Eva's orders. All clad in black and navy blue, the army spread out by squad. Lily pulled a key out of her pocket. "Alexio, I found this," she said. It had a purple tag attached to it. Nine others also pulled out keys of various colors. The colors of the keys matched the colors of a few panels spread all over the globe. Scanning the ground nearest him, Alexio found a green panel with a red outline and a yellow panel outlined with blue. He ordered the two with corresponding yellow and green keys to open the panels. The one with a green key called back that the panel wouldn't open. But the yellow one did, revealing a pile of knives and a couple of swords. Alexio Maximus looked up and saw the red bedecked army above trying similar tactics. Red. The panels with red outlines must be for their keys. "Soldiers, ignore the red-outlined panels. Our keys open the blue ones." Understanding dawned on their faces. "Give me all the keys you have." Some reluctantly handed over the one thing they had to differentiate them. But this was war and war didn't care about feelings. "Marc, Squad A, you take these weapons and run forward to attack them from behind. Go," Marc understood Alexio's command and his squad gathered up the knives and ran. Alexio Maximus turned to Rob. "B, you're on point duty. Get to the enemy as quickly as possible and begin disrupting their progress. Kill at your leisure. Move out." Alexio gave Rob a key for the red, with a blue outline, panel right by the other army. Rob saluted and led his squad up the ladders directly toward Mouldbreaker's army. Beyond the midpoint, gravity would reverse and Rob's squad would be attacking the red army from above while Marc's came up on their flank. Alexio assigned Squad C to take the remaining eight keys and gather up all the weapons they could and distribute them to their army. His squad and Squad E would take a sword each and head for Mouldbreaker's army's sides. They were to take the enemy's keys and keep them at whatever cost. But Mouldbreaker himself was the ultimate goal. The last two squads split and headed off in their own directions on the lattice of stairs and ladders above.

Sounds good. I'll get that up then. Hmm, that could be cool. I have plans for him for the next few days, but maybe after. Lightsworn Panda was here before too.

Mistborn's probably the most logical choice, since you'll have a trilogy and then Alloy, and by the time you're done with those Shadows of Self should be out as well.

"I see the void, sir. It's white and waffle-y."

"Flashpoint, I need you to go to Mr. Voidspren and buy some weapons for Thoughttown." "Mr. WHAT?! What the Calamity is spren? And is he related to Voidgaze? "

Mistborn chapter headings: 9/10. Simple, but cool, fits with the site perfectly.

Do any of you have ideas for a cool name for a weapon dealer? Gold was my first thought, but maybe that's too similar to Diamond in Steelheart.

Introduce yourself! 8 17th Shard Discussion 8 Tech Support 10 The Coppermind Wiki 10 General Brandon Discussion 10 Events and Signings 10 Interview Database 10 Cosmere Theories 10 Stormlight Archive 5 Mistborn 12 Elantris and Emperor's Soul 10 Warbreaker 10 Cosmere Short Stories 10 The Reckoners 10 (includes both Firefight and Calamity boards) The Rithmatist 10 Alcatraz 10 Other Stories 10 (includes Skin Deep board) The Wheel of Time 10 Writing Excuses 10 Reading Excuses 9 TWG Archive 8 General Discussion 10 AMAs 7 Entertainment Discussion 11 Tech Discussion 6 Creator's Corner 10 (includes Sanderson Fan Fiction board) Role Playing 10 (includes Inactive RPs) Mistborn: The Inquisition 10 Reckoners RPG 13 Social Groups, Clans, and Guilds 9

I'm not sure how I survived at all. I basically gave permission in a dead doc for me to be killed when I left and there was already plenty of suspicion on me. Well, this puts a stop to my Reigning Dodo numbers. Thanks Aonar for the game and Macen for Squiring me.

Bummer, but like always, RL comes first. Hope everything goes smoothly and I'll be excited to pick this up again when you start it back up.

Sounds good. Thanks, but you should be complimenting Lark, it's all her work. Okay, will do.